Burbank faces a series of challenges, including low projected growth, anticipated stagnation in sales tax revenues because of shifts in consumer behavior and a potential "housing crisis" that may make it harder to woo businesses to set up shop in the city.

Change is in the air in Burbank, including a new school superintendent and new elected officials after the April election as three incumbents don’t plan to run again.
In addition, IKEA is moving forward with plans to construct its largest store...

A temporary ice-skating rink that took over the parking lot behind City Hall last holiday season will return this year and stick around a little longer. The Burbank City Council approved an agreement Tuesday night that allows a section of the parking...

Home sale prices in Burbank continued to rise last month as the number of bank-owned and short-sale properties put on the market dropped dramatically from a year ago, according to local real estate statistics.
Last month Burbank saw only five...

Richard Nixon's helicopter once landed on the back lawn so the president could play a round at the nearby Lakeside Golf Club. Lucille Ball and Jack Benny drank and gossiped at the holiday parties in the living room. And the homeowner, Bob Hope, tried...

Office landlord Jeff Worthe is towering over the Burbank Media District these days.
That's the busy entertainment hub along the Ventura Freeway with hundreds of media firms surrounded by Universal, Warner Bros. and Disney studios.
Worthe's real estate firm in Santa Monica already owns or manages more than half the office space for rent around the media district, and now he's purchased Tower Burbank, the tallest building in Burbank at 32 stories. He figures he controls more than 70% of office space...

This post was updated to include more information.
Swedish furniture giant IKEA got the unanimous green light from the Burbank City Council this week to build its largest furniture store in the nation in Burbank.
The retailer, which opened in Burbank in 1990 as its first store in California and sixth in the United States, will relocate roughly a mile away to a nearly 23-acre lot located at 805 S. San Fernando Blvd.
The 470,000-square-foot megastore – which will be nearly double the size of its...

The median price for a single-family home in Burbank continued to climb last month, but the median price for a condominium slid, according to the latest real estate report.
The median price for a home was $598,750 in June 2013, compared to $653,500 last month, according to statistics compiled by Realtor Eric Benz with Dilbeck Real Estate in Burbank.
The median price for a condo edged down from $417,500 to $399,000 in a similar year-to-year comparison.
While prices have gone up, bidding remains...

Months after purchasing the former Great Indoors site in Burbank, Walmart representatives say they plan to open a store there, calling the 120,000-square-foot building a prime location.
Walmart had declined to confirm plans to move into the space until this week, after a feasibility study found a store in Burbank would be successful.
Walmart spokesman Steven Restivo said he expects the company will use all of the 120,000-square-foot building, but added that “leasing opportunities within the...

Members of the business district for Magnolia Park have voted to disband, ending a property tax assessment that brought hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for promotions and popular public events.
The Magnolia Park Partnership, which organizes annual events like Holiday in the Park and Be-Boppin’ in the Park, will dissolve at year’s end, officials said, after the vote that non-retail tenants carried.
The votes were weighted with the largest property owners getting the most influence....

Burbank has initiated a series of funding deals to keep IKEA — a top sales-tax revenue generator — within city limits.
The Swedish furniture retailer — a retail powerhouse in Burbank for more than two decades — has outgrown its current building has been looking for about a decade to expand its operations, said IKEA spokesman Joseph Roth.
“Parking is challenging, the loading zone is challenging, the store itself is too small,” he said.
The retailer already has its...

State finance officials have temporarily squashed a series of land deals put in motion by the Burbank City Council last month to keep IKEA within city limits, officials reported this week.
The Swedish furniture retailer has outgrown its current digs and has its eyes on a much larger property at 805 South San Fernando Boulevard. The owner of that property, Crown Realty and Development, was willing to sell the land to the retailer provided it can acquire the current IKEA building.
“Right now,...